Null Space
by minderbinder
Summary: The Doctor and Donna find themselves stuck on an alien ship in a new dimension of space.
1. Tardis and Trains

On a warm afternoon in the country, a light wind toys with the blades of tall grass, and a bird's song ripples across the field, lilting and complex. The songbird is perched on top of a blue light that is mounted on top of a blue box. The box, which is tall enough for a person to walk into upright through its' one double door, is perched across both rails of a railroad track. Abruptly the bird stops its' song and takes to the sky.

Suddenly, an unlikely couple round a bend in the tracks running into view as the staccato blasts of a trains' horn fill the silence. In a frantic rush, they sprint wildly towards the blue box, eyes wide and gasping for air. With the train looming closer, the man and woman slide to a hard stop against the door. Fumbling at the lock for just a second, they fall inside.

"Come on! Let's go!" the woman shouts turning to look back through the door.

"Aaaak!" the man yelled tripping and hitting the floor hard. "Who put that there?"

"Doctor!" the woman insisted with all the urgency she can muster, "we need to go NOW!" Jumping to a central console, the Doctor begins to pull levers, twist dials, and push buttons, his arms a blur of motion.

"Hold on Donna," the Doctor called out, "this is going to be close."

A few meters away and closing fast, the warning of the trains' horn is punctuated by the yells and shouts coming from inside the box. The Tardis' engines slowly come to life, and the blue box adds a loud pulsing noise to the cacophony. As the screaming iron fury of the locomotive reaches the box, the Tardis starts to fade away.

The train, now barely visible, tears through the cabin like a giant spectral anaconda, and Donna grabs the door to keep from being swept along with it. The Doctor, teeth clenched and white knuckled, grips the controls as the Tardis bucks and shudders. With one last violent lurch and an inaudible "pop", the train disappears, and the din of steel wheels, air horns, and temporal engines is replaced with a thick silence.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asks striding towards his companion.

"Am I alright?" Donna starts as she gets up from the floor. "Am I alright? I could literally count the bugs stuck to the front of that train as it was about to run me over, and you ask if I'm alright?"

"Well, are you?"

"What _I_ want to know is what took you so long?" she asked poking him in the chest with each word. "What was so important that it got your attention while running in front of a train?" she demanded. Just as the Doctor is about to reply she continues, "And how'd the Tardis get on the tracks anyway?"

"This is incredible," the Doctor commented looking over at his monitor.

"Yeah, it's incredible," Donna said, "incredible we're still alive as slow as you are!"

"No, the odds against this are astronomical," he continued in a reverent tone.

"Against what?" she demanded growing more agitated.

"They're phenomenal," excitement growing in his voice.

"What is"

"Actually, they're phenomenally astronomical," he finished triumphantly.

"That train must have really hit you after all, Doctor," she said giving up.

"No, it's the odds against anyone winding up here, of all places."

"OK, you got me I'll ask, where are we," Donna asked rolling her eyes.

"We're exactly nowhere."


	2. Unfashionably Early

"What do you mean nowhere?" Donna asked, trying gather her wits after such a close call. The Doctor looks up from the monitor with a start as if he'd forgotten she was there.

"I said," she started again, "How can we be nowhere?"

"Well," the Doctor said, " We're in a very unique area. I guess you could call it ground zero for the largest explosion in history." He pauses to press a few buttons at the console. "We are at the location of the Big Bang that started the universe."

"So."

"So!" he managed in an exasperated voice, "so this is where it will begin! We've managed to predate our own time line !" Donna just couldn't catch the Doctor's enthusiasm.

"I thought we were on the way to see the burning rings of Tithasitos," she asked feeling more than a little aggravated.

"We were, but this is so much better," the Doctor explained smiling. "This place is an impossibility wrapped in a paradox, hidden in a contradiction!" he said growing more animated with each word. "We are in the place where our universe is _about _to happen!" Walking around to another panel, he pulls up a keyboard and begins entering information. "It would seem we managed the trip by cutting the temporal field of the Tardis at right angles with a large magnetic field backed by a massive physical inertia."

"So," Donna said thoughtfully pacing the metal floor, "what you're saying is that we phased with a diesel-electric freight train while trying to leave."

"Bingo!" he said looking up in surprise.

"This is great and all," she said with a wave of her hand, "but since it's nowhere, I'd just as soon leave for Tithasitos."

"So would I."

"Then let's go," Donna said anxious to see the rings that caught fire every night, and burned out every dawn.

"Sorry," the Doctor said evenly, "I'm afraid we can't, and unless you have another speeding freight train in your pocket, we're stuck."


	3. No Time Calls for Desperate Measures

For once, Donna has nothing to say. The reality of their situation, or lack thereof, silencing any comments.

"Look, Donna," the Doctor continued hopefully, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeves." As the Doctor turns to the console, Donna first realizes that she's having difficulty thinking. It seems that she can only focus on the immediate. Memories are becoming hazy, and it is increasingly difficult to form any idea.

"It' the lack of time," the Doctor offered looking up form the controls. "Your brain, much like a computer needs to have a set clock to function properly. It's really no more than a nuisance."

"How do you know that you haven't done the same test already then," she asked with a note of worry creeping into her voice. "How do you know you haven't already tried that and then forgot?"

"I don't know," he said busy again with some hanging levers, "I can only keep trying what I think of at any given instant."

Before the notion drifted away, Donna runs to the console and presses buttons at random as fast as she can reach them.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor demands smacking her hands away from the controls.

"I'm trying something new," she said still reaching for buttons. "And if you're not going to help, then get out of the way!"

"How can this possibly help?"

"If I randomly work the controls without thinking about what I'm doing, then I reduce the risk of repeating myself," she explained in breathless voice, still reaching for the buttons.

The Doctor freezes for a second staring at Donna. "THAT'S BRILLIANT!" he shouts as he leaps the the other side of the console and joins in. Lights and klaxons blink and blare as the couple circle the control, grabbing levers, pulling ropes, twisting dials, and pressing buttons. Going faster with each pass, the lights, and indicators on the console become a psychedelic blur as the engine pulses into life only to be instantly shut off again and again.

Both the Doctor and Donna are knocked on their backs as a panel on the console is cracked open and brilliant golden light start to issue out. The Doctor scrambles to his feet and dives at it.

"No!" he yells landing hands first on the panel. Driving it closed, the Doctor staggers against the console looking at his hands. Going to his knees, he tenses up, getting ready for the regeneration that surely must come.

"Get up!" Donna said as she taps him on the shoulder. "You're fine."

"What do I look like?"

"You haven't changed."

"Oh," he said in a small voice. "Right then, I always liked this look."

Donna rolls her eyes at him. After getting his attention, she points up. The golden light that had poured from the Tardis is still swirling about in the top of the cabin. It seems to sparkle in straight lines in places, and grow legs, arm, and heads in others. Shortly it becomes obvious that the light is transforming into something.

As it coalesces into being, another ship seems to moving through the cabin in a calmer likeness of the freight train. With a soft thud, the ship disappears from the cabin.

"Is it gone?" Donna asked.

"No," the Doctor replied grinning, "come look." He walks over and opens the door.

"We've landed," he announces with a slight flourish.


	4. Food for Thought

He steps off the Tardis to find himself in the middle of a cubic chamber. Each of the four walls giving away to more organically shaped passageways. The Doctor, hands in pocket, takes it all in as Donna steps up beside him. The hallways are dimly lit, and sounds of activity echo from them. Just as the couple are about to decide which one to take, one of the ships' crew walk into the chamber. Being basically humanoid, except for the triangular insect-like head, it motions them to follow.

"What does it want," Donna asked in a hushed tone?

"I don't know, but I think we should follow."

They fall in behind their guide, who leads them to another cubic chamber. This one, having more occupants, is a hive of activity. Their guide walks over to a control panel, and flipping a switch begins to chatter into a stalk protruding from the wall.

"We need help." a monotone computer voice translates. " Our engines seem to be dead."

"Let's see what we can do then," the Doctor said reaching for his sonic screwdriver. As he bends to the task of examining the alien equipment, Donna begins to explore the room on her own. She soon discovers that all the aliens seem to understand her, but she only understands the ones that use the translator panels. She walks over to one working nearby.

"So," she starts, curiosity getting the best of her, "what are you doing?"

"I am the navigation officer," it said, "I'm having difficulty finding our location."

"We had that problem as well," Donna volunteered, "but I think your literally nowhere."

"That certainly makes sense," it continued, "It appears that we have predated our own time somehow."

"Yes, that's right"

"I thought that our instruments were at fault, but I guess not." Standing by it's instrument panel, it waves scaly hands over the luminous controls. "Thank you, now I can make my report to the Superior." It turns and looks up, in the corner towards the ceiling, a large monitor lights up. A being very much like the one standing next to Donna appears on it and begins chittering. After responding similarly, the being next to Donna simply walks away.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" she asks as she catches up to it. Her new acquaintance, however, does not answer. She follows it anyway. Passing down a couple more oddly shaped corridors, the alien stops in front of a door and disrobes. When the door opens, metal bands grab the being and hold it fast to a table that starts tilting to lay flat.

Once the table is level enough to see over, Donna discovers that there are more beings similarly trussed disappearing down the same passageway. The heat coming from the long chamber makes it difficult to see, but Donna can almost see someone at the other end removing what was left of the aliens.

Suddenly from the shimmering interior of the chamber, a breeze escapes, and Donna gasps. The smell makes her stomach rumble fiercely and her mouth water as a horrible thought hits her. She runs back to the room where the crew and the Doctor are still working. Passing the navigation console, she couldn't help but notice that a new crew member is already posted there.

"What are you doing," she asks, her voice hoarse from running.

"I am the navigation officer," it said, "I'm having difficulty finding our location."

"You mean you don't know"

"I just started at this post, it will take me a minute to become familiar with it."

"You know," Donna said slowly, "I told the last navigation officer where your ship is just before he walked into a huge cooker."

"You should have waited and told me," it said, "the last officer's time had expired."

"Well that's perfectly obvious," she said in an irritated voice. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that she was missing something important. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"That crew member's time on this ship was complete. When mine is complete, I'll provide the ultimate service to the Superior as well and a new crew member will take over this post."

"What is the ultimate service?" Donna asked in a voice laden with disgust. The being stood chittered into the translator, and after a pause, the monotone voice replied.

"We provide nourishment to the Superior."

Fighting the urge to scream, Donna takes a deep breath and asks, "who gives you nourishment?"

"We have packaged rations in the ship's stores, but the Superior demands fresh food" the navigator said, "It is our honor to provide it."

"But there were so many at one time, how much does the Superior eat?" she asked.

"The Superior is many and requires much nourishment," it replied. A speaker near by bursts into a fit of chittering. The navigator turns its' large insect eyes towards Donna. "This is very rare," it said, "but you have been honored. It is now your time to nourish the Superior."


	5. Simple Misunderstandings

The Doctor looks at the object in total disbelief. After some examination and much more conversation, the item that the Chirgolian engineer offers at last is an empty fuel cell from it's ship. With a low whistle, the Doctor takes the cylindrical object, turning it over and over in his hands. This object is identical in almost every way to the thing he had tripped on as he ran into the Tardis, with one wonderful exception. The one on the Tardis is completely charged.

"Can I borrow this for a moment?" the Doctor asks as the answers start to click into place. Running back to the Tardis, the Doctor pulls up a section of floor. Working with nimble fingers, he disconnects sections of wire and reroutes them into the spent fuel cell. "What's this?" he asks himself grabbing a strange looking glove off of the bottom of the compartment. The oversized white glove is made of a strange polymer with metal rods that run down the fingers and connect on the back of the wrist. "Forgot I had that," he said tossing it back, over his shoulder.

"Now where is it?" the Doctor begins to search the Tardis for the full fuel cell.

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"Doctor Help!!" Donna screams as the Chirgolian guards drag her back down the corridor. Their chitinous claw-like fingers dig into her arms as she pulls and twists to free herself. Eventually a familiar smell greets her as she hears the oven chamber open, infinitely increasing her panic.

"You can't do this!" she exclaims writhing for freedom. "What does the Superior do for you anyway?" Donna must have hit a nerve with her captors because their grip weakens a tiny bit as they stare blankly at each other. "That's right," she continued sensing a little hope, "You do all the work and I haven't seen even one of them in the control room."

Their grip loosens significantly as they nod in agreement. Donna pulls her arm away continuing with her reasoning.

"I haven't seen them contribute anything to help free you from this place. You work yourselves to no end then die prematurely just to feed them." Her captors turned audience now push a button on the wall and the oven chamber door slides shut. "I mean the very least they can do is get their own food!" she finishes pounding her fist into her palm to emphasize her words. Her fear now replaced with empathy for the Chirgolians, she watches as they chitter a conversation between themselves. One of them nervously rub its' hands making a chirping noise as the other talks.

"What do you say, we can just go back to the control room and let the Superiors fend for themselves for a change," she offers making quotes with her fingers as she said Superiors. One Chirgolian turns to the other and shrugs. The other, hesitantly, nods and presses another button on the wall.

Her relief vaporizes as a wall clangs down between her and the guards as the corridor goes dark. A dull crimson line appears behind Donna as another section of wall begins to raise. Steam issues out as the light floods into the hall. She turns to see several huge Chrigolians walking towards her.

"Fend for ourselves, eh?" the one in front said in perfect English. "It has been a long time since we had a proper hunt!" The Superior claps its' enormous hands and several passages open around Donna in all directions. "I would say you require a head start," it said millimeters from her face. Frozen in abject horror, Donna could only stare into the pitch black orbs of the Superiors eyes.

"Go!" he shouted pushing her backwards where she promptly disappears down a hole in the floor. "Ah what luck!" it shouts to the others, " It looks like it's going to be a chase along engine's core!"


	6. Decisions, Decisions

"Nope,not in there," the Doctor said slamming the cabinet shut. Being unsuccessful in his quest for the full fuel cell, he had managed to turn up an impressive collection of gadgets that he had either lost or forgotten about. "What's this?" he mused digging into yet another corner of the Tardis. "Oh yeah, my set of frictionless pulleys. Yes, and here are my ropes of negligible mass," he said pushing them out of the way.

The Doctor gets down on one knee to continue his search, then slowly spins to sit with his back against the wall. Unaware of the growing seriousness of Donna's plight, he closes his eyes and exhales.

"Let's see," he said, starting his search anew. "When I ran in, I tripped right there," fixing his gaze on the deck near the console,"and then I fell backwards." The bruise on his back throbs in agreement.

He scans the deck from his point of impact all the way to the rear wall, and could see no sign of the cylinder. As Donna is persuading her captors, the Doctor is crawling along the wall on all fours. Looking under cabinets, behind structural members, anywhere and everywhere, yet the evasive fuel cell still keeps it's secret.

"Oh my... Aggie and Kim wouldn't approve at all," he muttered as his best efforts produce only dust bunnies and one lone, dirty, sweat sock. As the wall clangs down trapping Donna with the Superiors, the Doctor rolls over flat on his back and looks up. "Ah ha!" he shouts, a huge smile suddenly appearing on his face, "Now I've got you!"

In all the commotion of the locomotive incident, the cylinder had somehow become lodged in one of the buttress-like beams that radiate out from the top of the Tardis. With a flick of his wrist, and the sonic screwdriver is in his hand. A blue light and hum followed by a click and a slap finds the fuel cell safely in the Doctor's free hand.

As Donna is knocked down the chute, the Doctor enters the Chirgolian control room.

"What d'ya think of that," he asked with a faltering smile. Somehow there has been a change,almost imperceptible, in the Chirgolian's behavior. The regular rhythm and flow of their motions and tasks were sped up somehow appearing to the Doctor as almost desperate.

The engineer takes the fuel cell and deposits it into a tray in the wall that silently slides closed after it.

"Thank you," the computer translates for the being, "our engines will be ready in two minutes."

"So, where's Donna? You know, my companion." the Doctor inquires.

"The one you call Donna is our Savior." the engineer said. "She is no longer among us."

"Whaddya mean savior?" the Doctor asks bluntly furrowing his brow. "What have you done with her?"

"She chose to selflessly give her life in a diversionary tactic that will allow us to escape the Superiors." the translator drones. "We shall finally be free." Waving its' hands over the lights on its' control panel, the engineer said, "one minute until departure."

"How are you getting free then?"

The Chrigolian turns toward the Doctor in what could almost pass for annoyance, "we can separate the control compartment from ours in case of emergency. The momentum from the separation charges should send the Superiors clear of whatever danger we may be facing while we will be doomed.

"The Superiors monitor the circuits and can abort in case there is no emergency. Now, thanks to Donna, the Superiors are preoccupied. Separation will occur in one point five six minutes."

"Can you at least tell me where she is?"

"The savior is currently in the maze of passages under the control cabin. There are ten Superiors closing in on her location. We must separate soon, or we will lose the chance. Begin departure sequence."

The Doctor, torn in a highly unusual fit of indecision, feels like his feet are glued to the floor. If he started now, he stood a small chance of getting to Donna before the separation charges go off, but then they would be stuck in the Null until their universe started or they died. Or, he could get to the Tardis and look for her as the two ships phased through each other on their way back to normal time. Only then, all he could do is watch as a phantom Donna whisked by. If only there was some way to catch her as they pass.

With that thought, the Doctors' feet find a will of their own and sprint him back towards the Tardis. Determination burning in his eyes and talking to himself and the Tardis, the Doctor begins his usual dance around the controls.


	7. Cylla, Charybdis, or Tardis

Donna falls for what seems a small eternity before the chute gently slopes horizontal. Coming to rest on the floor, the sounds of her pursuers drive her to her feet. Donna battles blind panic as she tries to reason while running. An idea strikes her, and Donna decides to alternate left turns with right turns in the labyrinthine passages. This, she figures, should give her a straight shot back to the control cabin where she hopes to crack some Chirgolian heads.

Suddenly, the passage becomes much brighter, and an electric hum fills the air. Donna runs with all her strength as her hair forms a static halo around her head. Gaining a sense of hope, Donna can see the end of the passage where Chirgolian workers are going about their business. The long corridor that remains between them, however, suddenly explodes into a lightening storm that would have made Tesla proud.

Tendrils of static crackle through Donna's hair stopping her just before she slides into the engine's core. As she tries to retrace her steps two Superiors block her retreat advancing in on her. They cause her to back up until her skin tingles electric warnings. The two towering creatures reach Donna as more enter the passage behind them giving Donna a grim choice. Choosing electrocution over being mauled by chitinous humanoids, Donna decides to run through the conflagration of lightening behind her.

Just before she jumps in, a ghostly vision of the Tardis floats into the electric melee. As the ethereal box flies towards her, Donna can just make out the shape of the Doctor leaning out of the door. She also notices that he has something solid in his hand as he motions for her. Donna grabs what looks like a large white glove, just as the Tardis exits the core right in front of her.

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Blackness... followed by the sensation of being pounded by waves and rolled in the surf. The tides of the temporal sea buffet Donna as she struggles to break the surface of reality. Greyness infuses the darkness as she washes up on the Tardis' metal shore. As her eyes gradually focus, she sees the Doctor.

"I see you're finally awake!" he announces with a glowing smile. "I was afraid that you were going to sleep straight through the second renaissance of Arcturous!"

"Sleep through the what of the what?" asks Donna still gathering her conscious.

"Oh, only one of the most important events of our universe, and we're traveling through it right now!"

"So, we made it?"

"What? Of course we made it!" the Doctor says in feigned surprise , "We had no other choice!"

"Umm," Donna begins sleepily, "what was that..."

"Batting glove," the Doctor interrupts, "Aldebaran Ultra Cricket!" Holding up his gloved hand he continues, "the only civilization to play Cricket across realities. I picked this up at their Pan-Galactic Series against Betelgeuse Prime."

The glove starts to glow ethereal with a low pitched hum as the Doctor flips a switch hidden at its wrist. Grinning, he flexes his hand a couple of times before shutting it off.

"What happened with the Chirgolians," she asks as he tosses his glove into a compartment in the floor.

"They made it out of the Null with us marooning the Superiors there."he says checking something down inside the compartment.

"Are they still there?"

"No... I'm afraid the big bang took care of that."

Donna stands up feeling a little guilty at the relief the news gives her. After sorting her feelings for a minute, she asks, "How long have I been out?"

"About three hours, give or take an eon," the Doctor replies brightly. "Just enough time to recharge an empty Chirgolian fuel cell." Walking over to the console, he Steers the Tardis through time and space landing at last, back on Earth.

He lowers the deck plate down over the compartment after disconnecting the fuel cell. Stirring Donna's curiosity, the Doctor then carries it to the door and does an about face. Taking three long strides back towards the console the Doctor, almost reverently, places the cylinder on the floor.

"There," he says with a marked note of satisfaction in his voice. "That should do nicely." Scanning the interior of the Tardis, he asks, "Ready to go?"

"Go where?" Donna asks, suspicion creeping into her voice.

"Tithasitos of course! I thought you wanted to see the burning rings." he exclaims stepping out of the Tardis. Donna begins to follow, but stops just shy of the door.

"Of all the stupid places to park! And especially after what just happened...!" Donna starts, raising her voice. "I can't believe you'd be daft enough to do it again!" The Doctor, already standing on the track motions for Donna to exit.

"We really need to go if were going beat ourselves back to the other Tardis."

"You mean _**you**_ parked this here? This is what caused us to take that short trip to Hell and back?"she asks feeling her anger rise. "Is this some sort of cheap thrill to you?"

The Doctor holds up his hands attempting to calm her, "Not that I'm keen to send us there either, but we have to. It's vitally important."

"What's so important about being hunted down like an animal, or thought of as food!"

"When we were stuck in the Null," the Doctor explains, " we opened the Tardis' Time Vortex. What escaped then, was enough temporal energy to kick start the cosmic clock so to speak."

"But it was sheer chance that the Chirgolians happened into this 'impossible' Null right after us. And it was just damned lucky that I didn't get fried, roasted or just plain killed!"

Shutting and locking the door, the Doctor says, "Well... Luck and chance are rare commodities for a Time Lord, or his companion."

As they walk off the Doctor takes one last look over his shoulder. Oh Ouroboros, he thinks wistfully, we need to stop meeting like this!

The End


End file.
